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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



only possible when there is a combination of the two 

 methods, where a suitable selection of subjects are 

 planted out in a show house so that they may attain 

 their full development, and pot grown material, such as 

 flowering plants that cannot be grown to advantage 

 planted out, used to fill in bare places and to provide 

 variety and additional interest throughout the year. All 

 this, of course, implies ample room, a liberal supply of 

 reserve houses and prodigal appropriations for upkeep : 

 but with many of us such conditions seem to be nothing 

 more or less than beautiful pipe dreams. 



:(: ^ :}; ^ 



It is all very well to talk and write of the ideal condi- 

 tions for growing tropical plants under g^ass, but the 

 tendency appears to be in the opposite direction, and the 

 greenhouse seems to be cutting less and less a figure 

 in horticultural life, except so far as the production of 

 cut flowers is concerned. 



Reports from England indicate that there has been 

 a bad slump in indoor gardening; thus E. H. ^^'ilson, 

 writing in the Garden Magaainc of December, says : 

 . . . . "but the death knell of the tender exotics has 

 been rung; .... the hothouse with its miscellaneous 

 collection of tropical and semi-tropical plants is fast 

 vanishing." His remarks are amply confirmed by other 

 observers. 



We are wondering if there is not a tendency towards 

 a similar condition in our own country. AVe hope it is 

 a mistaken notion, but, excluding vegetables and fruits 

 under glass, we do seem to be developing mainly along 

 the lines of material suitable for cut flowers to the neglect 

 of "the miscellaneous collection of tropical and subtropi- 

 cal plants," to which Mr. Wilson refers. If this is so, it 

 is deplorable, for apart from the intrinsic value to horti- 

 culture of well grown specimen plants of Crotons, Dra- 

 caenas, Anthuriums, Mcdin'dla, etc., so dear to the hearts 

 of old time gardeners, we have an opportunity to assume 

 the mantle that seems to be slipping from the shoulders 

 of the European growers. The conditions which operate 

 in Europe to cause a diminution of interest in tropical 

 ornamentals, viz., the high price of coal and labor, com- 

 bined with increasing interest in hardy plants, do not 

 obtain here, at lea.st not to the same extent. Truly, coal 

 is high priced, labor co.sts more than it used to do, and 

 there is a gratifying increase in the interest accorded 

 to hardy plants in America. But surely this ought not 

 to cause tender exotics to be relegated entirely to the 

 background. Admitting that coal and labor is high, 

 .\merica is the paradise of millionaires to whom the exu- 

 dation of sufficient money to maintain a collection of 

 tropical plants is a mere trifle, and surely some of our 

 horticultural enthusiasts are sufficiently catholic in taste 

 to have room in their hearts to appreciate bijth hardy 



and tender plants. 



% ^ ^ ^ 



Whenever there is any di.scussion of tropical orna- 

 mental plants, the name of Veitch is always sure to in- 

 ject itself in some form or other. Either plants are men- 

 tioned that commemorate the name of this world famous, 

 firm such as Pinanga VcUchii and Masdn'allia Vcitch- 

 iana, or the name is recalled in connection with the intro- 

 duction to cultivation of some plant or other recognized 

 to be in the front rank of ornamental subjects. It is im- 

 possible at present to adequately estimate the immense 

 influence the firm of James A'eitch & Sons has had in 

 furthering the progress of horticulture. Time must 

 elapse before the full value of some of llu-ir later intro- 

 ductions can be appreciated. 



Looking over "Hortus \'eitchii," a somewhat Ijald 

 record of the "rise and progress of the nurseries of 

 Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, together with an accoimt 

 of the botanical collectors and hybridists employed by 



them, and a list of the most remarkable of their intro- 

 ductions," one cannot fail to be impressed with the mag- 

 nitude of the contribution this firm has made to horti- 

 culture, of the romance and danger attendant on the col- 

 lection and introduction to cultivation of plants that now 

 grace our greenhouses and gardens, and of the patient 

 endeavor in the field of hybridization. 



It should be remembered that it is not only in the in- 

 troduction of tropical and subtropical plants that this 

 firm will be remembered — their hardy tree and shrub, 

 fruit and vegetable, and herbaceous introductions are 

 perhaps of ec|ual importance. But as being more ger- 

 mane to the present discussion, consider a few names 

 only from the long list of tropical subjects Veitch's have 

 given to horticulture. 



jMany would accord first place to Anthuriiim Veitchii, 

 a truly wonderful plant when well grown. Immense 

 leaves, five to six feet long, the lateral veins depressed, 

 causing exquisite undulations and the whole enhanced by 

 the metallic sheen of their deep green coloring. The illus- 

 tration of this plant in "Hortus X'eitchii," is of one in 

 the Palmen Garten, Frankfurt-am-Main, but I think the 

 specimen in the New York Botanical Garden is of equal 

 merit, though possibly not quite so symmetrical. 



An exquisite ornament for the roof of an interme- 

 diate house is Cantita dcpcndcns, introduced from Peru 

 by William Lobb, one of the earliest of Veitch's col- 

 lectors. As I remember it. planted in a solid bed in a 

 corridor connecting a range of houses, it was wonder- 

 fully beautiful when bedecked with its pendent orange 

 colored blooms fully four inches in length, but cranky 

 in disposition and much favored by the red spider. 



Another Veitchian introduction that is also somewhat 

 intractable, although not bothered with red spider, is 

 that remarkable submerged aquatic the Lace-leaf or Lat- 

 tice-leaf Plant, Aponogcton [Ouiirandra) fcncstralis. 

 It is seldom that really good plants of this are seen in 

 cultivation. Fine specimens were to be seen in the Bo- 

 tanic Garden of the University of Penn.sylvania ten years 

 or so ago. and probably today. Personal experience has 

 convinced me that it objects to growing in a painted re- 

 ceptacle. A fine specimen growing wonderfully in a 

 decrepit, partly rotten beer barrel promptly sulked and 

 grew smaller instead of larger when removed to a sim- 

 ilar barrel painted with white on the inside, for the pur- 

 pose of reflecting the light that the beautifully netted 

 veins could be seen. 



Many notable species of Nepenthes, Aeschynanthns. 

 ColiDnnea. Dipladenia, Eranthcmnm- and Ixora owe their 

 introduction to cultivation to \'eitch's. Good specimens 

 of these are not so common nowadays, and it is much to 

 be regretted that they do not receive a wider apprecia- 

 tion. Perhaps we are unwilling or unable to give them 

 the superlative care necessary to maintain them in good 

 condition. 



.Some of the introductions, however, are to be found 

 in almost every establishment that boasts of a greenhouse. 

 Amongst the circhids such plants as Cvpripedlum Law- 

 rcnceannm and Calanthe Veitchii, the latter a hybrid 

 raised at the Chelsea Nursery, are universally grown, 

 and it is a small and meagrely stocked greenhouse that 

 does not contain examples of Asparagus plitmostis. Pan- 

 da ii us Veitchii, Primula obconica and some of the in- 

 numerable varieties of Crotons sent from the South Sea 

 Islands by the late J. G. Veitch. .\nother widely grown 

 plant is the "double" Poinsettia, discovered by Roezl in 

 ^Mexico. "Hortus Veitchii" states that "it proved of 

 difficult culture, and is now lost to cultivation." The 

 double form now grown does not seem to present anv ex- 

 ce])tional difficulties in its management, and it would be 

 interesting to know if it is identical witli the variety 

 distributed bv \"eitch in 1876. 



